Chapter 31

Chapter 31 - Baekya Land - Attraction (2)

[2. Each ride has its own set of rules. Be sure to check them before boarding, and take care not to displease Him.]

The background music, intertwined with the flute, had stopped.

The silence was so complete it felt as though the entire amusement park had frozen.

But before long, the clanking of rides in motion shattered the illusion.

"What do we do now?"

Ju-hee asked Su-myeon.

Su-myeon was gradually growing accustomed to the group relying on him.

In this situation, he was the only one who could tell them what came next—that much was true.

"They're not actually going to find the missing person for us, right?"

"Obviously not."

Han-su responded reflexively to Du-pal's remark.

Su-myeon agreed—there was no way they would.

"This isn't a real amusement park. It's just something wearing the skin of one."

There was no chance of receiving any service beyond what the rules dictated.

The announcement's purpose had been a message aimed at Shin Hyeon-seok himself.

In the urgency of finding and extracting him, there wouldn't be time to bring him up to speed.

"He must have noticed. He'll be waiting."

Ju-hee said something that might have been hope or conviction.

Su-myeon prayed she was right.

"Then how should we go about finding him here?"

Han-su spoke amid the quiet park, where only the mechanical hum of rides could be heard.

Plenty of people moved around them, but every last one was stiff and lifeless—like wax figures.

As though they were robots repeating pre-programmed actions.

Purchasing food devoid of warmth, boarding rides, wandering in every direction—all of them were like that.

The usual bustle you'd expect from an amusement park was absent.

At best, the crowd numbered around a hundred—sparse for a park.

Did they have to examine every single one?

"Ideally I'd like to keep our stay as short as possible, but I do want to hear your thoughts on this."

When Su-myeon asked, Du-pal frowned slightly and spoke.

"Whichever option's safer?"

"From what I can tell...... both carry about the same amount of risk."

Then the answer was decided.

"In that case, how about we go with whichever lets us get out faster?"

At least the option with less time spent here would feel more reassuring.

Han-su and Du-pal lightly agreed with Ju-hee's suggestion.

With the direction set, Su-myeon pointed immediately.

"Then let's start by looking from up high—on that."

What Su-myeon pointed at was the Ferris wheel in the center of the park.

<Ferris Wheel 'Eye of Baekya' Rules of Use>

For safety, please board in even numbers. In the event of an odd number of riders.

"......"

The rest of the sentence about riding solo was smothered beneath layer upon layer of bloody handprints, rendering it illegible.

But below that, four characters were crammed in, filling every remaining inch of the sign.

'He'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatchingHe'swatching'

Repeated dozens of times, they packed the rules board to the brim.

On top of that, the Ferris wheel's design—stark white, with a crude eye ornament stuck dead center.

And the ride's name, "Eye of Baekya." Not a single thing about it looked good.

"At least our party's an even number, but......"

Su-myeon glanced at the cat plush sitting quietly on his shoulder—Cheshire.

"......"

Would asking whether he counted as a passenger offend him?

At Su-myeon's pointed look, Cheshire let out a snicker.

"You already know the answer, don't you~?"

Su-myeon deliberated briefly at Cheshire's words.

If what he was thinking was the right answer......

"Do we have to stand in line to ride that?"

Han-su broke through Su-myeon's thoughts with a question.

Wax figures were lined up at the Ferris wheel.

There were fewer than ten of them, so unfortunately, the wait wouldn't be long.

Faced with the prospect of boarding immediately, Su-myeon gave his instructions.

"Once we're up, Han-su and I will scan the right side, and you two take the left. Ajeossi, you saw the employee ID—you know his face, right?"

Du-pal nodded with a look of steely resolve at Su-myeon's words.

"I'll help the five of you board!"

A cheerful-voiced staff member extended a hand and opened the Ferris wheel's door.

Inside were passengers completing their rotation and disembarking.

Ju-hee hunched her shoulders, not wanting to bump into them as they shuffled out with their stiff, unnatural movements.

She moved to board the Ferris wheel right away. But,

"Ngh, nnngh. Nnngh......"

At the sound coming from inside, Ju-hee recoiled in shock.

By now it was practically a reflex—the moment she flinched, she clapped her hand over her own mouth.

Inside, 'someone' had completely melted and fused to the seat and wall.

"Nngh...... nnnnngh......"

A constant, agonized groaning leaked out, but the lower and upper jaw were already misaligned, stuck fast to the window of the car.

The nose had long since melted away, leaving nothing but two hollow, gaping holes.

The eyelids had dripped down completely, sealing over the eyes—whether there were even eyeballs left underneath was uncertain.

"We'd like to ride together as a full group."

When Su-myeon hurriedly spoke to the staff member, the employee turned around with the same pleasant smile.

That staff member, too, had a second face wired and stitched to the back of the head.

"Yes! Since there are five of you, the numbers will work out perfectly if you all board together!"

The bright voice seemed to cue Cheshire into snickering, which grated on Su-myeon's nerves.

Before they could even steel themselves, the car began to move, and four people and one plush doll scrambled aboard.

The door shut, and the wheel began to turn with a groaning clatter.

"Haah...... Wh-what...... what the hell is this?!"

Ju-hee, barely settled into the Ferris wheel, shrieked as she pressed herself as far as possible from the thing stuck to the wall.

But Su-myeon was already glued to the window, scanning outside, and answered flatly.

"I don't know either. And isn't it better not to know?"

He knew these existed.

But as gruesome and agonizing as they were to look at, they didn't directly cause harm.

Occasionally, depending on their condition, some would curse at you or make desperate pleas for help the entire ride—but they couldn't move.

"......"

Su-myeon had told Ju-hee he didn't know what it was, but in truth, he did.

It was a 'person' who had wandered this amusement park for far too long.

"Ngh, nnngh......"

At least—small mercy amid the horror—this one had melted to the point of being unable to speak.

Su-myeon forced his gaze outward and spoke.

"Let's focus on finding him first."

Two days ago, inside Exit 4, Hyeon-seok had still looked intact. They needed to find him quickly.

The longer they waited, the more he would deteriorate into something like this.

At Su-myeon's words, the group snapped out of their daze and turned to the windows.

The amusement park was fairly large, but not so vast that surveying it all was impossible.

An indoor park with roughly ten rides in scale.

From the very top of the Ferris wheel, nearly the entire interior was visible.

"You said he was wearing a suit?"

Du-pal asked while scanning diligently, and Su-myeon answered.

"Yes. A full three-piece, all black."

Everyone here was dressed in their own fashion.

Outfits that didn't quite suit an amusement park were common enough, but someone in full formal attire was rare.

On top of that, Hyeon-seok had a solid build and a fairly handsome face—he should stand out.

"Ju-hee! Ju-hee!"

Su-myeon, who had been sweeping the park like a scanner, suddenly called out urgently.

"Over there! Isn't that Shin Hyeon-seok?"

Su-myeon pointed to one side, and Ju-hee rushed to press against the window beside him.

The moment her eyes traced the direction he indicated, she forgot she was inside a Ferris wheel car and leapt up.

"That's him! That's him!"

"Whoa, hey!"

The car lurched violently, and Du-pal grabbed the safety bar in a panic.

"Isn't he standing in line for a ride?"

Han-su, apparently having pinpointed Hyeon-seok's location as well, spoke.

The ride Hyeon-seok was queued for was......

"......Horror Maze?"

Of all places, he was lined up at what appeared to be a haunted house.

But Su-myeon had already reviewed every ride before coming here.

"It's fine. If we head straight there the moment we get off, we might be able to grab him before he goes in."

"But if we're too late......"

Su-myeon bit his lip at Ju-hee's worried words.

If it were any other ride, they could at least wait for him to finish and get off.

"Then we follow him in."

The inside was structured like a maze.

Just standing around waiting outside—there was no telling what might happen.

Especially if he was a company man. All the more so.

"No other choice, I guess."

Du-pal nodded in understanding.

The Ferris wheel had already crested the peak and was descending.

"Wait—first of all, we need to stay together. Everyone keep that in mind."

Su-myeon had once moved too hastily inside the Hotel's maze and ended up alone.

He had no desire to repeat that, so he hammered the point home. Han-su nodded.

"I won't let anyone fall behind."

Protagonist material, indeed.

When he stated it that firmly, it was incredibly reassuring.

The Ferris wheel descended slowly, bit by bit.

The haunted house where Hyeon-seok had been queuing was a fair distance away, so he soon slipped out of view.

Ju-hee bounced impatiently on her feet.

"I'll take the lead."

Ju-hee was confident in her running.

"I'll bring up the rear, so just run as fast as you can."

Just as they were bracing to sprint the moment the door opened, Su-myeon felt a hand grab his ankle.

"...!"

He looked down in alarm. The barely surviving finger joints—one or two at most—of the melted figure that had been groaning were gripping the hem of his pants.

He seized his pants and yanked his foot free, but the grip was terrifyingly strong.

"What the—?!"

Han-su, noticing Su-myeon's distress, reached out.

He pried the grotesquely shriveled, withered fingers off Su-myeon.

CLINK.

Something fell from between those fingers.

"......What's this?"

Du-pal picked up what had dropped.

It was something he'd seen before—a Rose Coin.

Taking the coin from Du-pal, Su-myeon felt a wave of confusion.

Trapped in Baekya Land for who knew how long, turned to wax, melted and fused. Something that had once been human.

That was all he knew about it.

"Are you...... trying to help us?"

But the object pressed into his hand in that moment made him suspect that even this thing still retained some sense of self.

"......Nngh, ...ngh."

It still produced only feeble groans through jaws that wouldn't open.

Meanwhile, the Ferris wheel had reached the ground.

"Please watch your step as you exit!"

The car door opened to the lively staff member's guidance.

There wasn't a second to waste, so Su-myeon readied himself to bolt. Even if he couldn't know whether it still had ears that could hear—he felt he had to say it for his own peace of mind.

"......Thank you. I'm sorry."

And then the door opened.

With Ju-hee in the lead, the group dashed out of the Ferris wheel.

Her stamina and form were honed by years of running, and she sprinted straight toward their target.